The Caffeinated High School Runner: Safe or Risky?

5-hour Energy drinks make my skin tingle and my hands shake. But they also make me energized. Very energized. Maybe it’s the B12 vitamin. (There’s 8333% of the daily recommended value in each bottle.) Or maybe it’s the “Energy Blend” that’s made up of Glucuronolactone and other hard to pronounce chemicals that are mixed with 200mg of caffeine that I gulp down in one sip.

That is more caffeine than two eight-ounce cups of coffee. According to Leslie Bonci, the director of sports nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Running Times High School nutrition guru, 200mg of caffeine is the maximum level of caffeine a high school student, athlete or not, should have daily. Caffeine can be a way to add zing to a run, but Bonci warns to tread carefully. While it may work to boost performance, it can cause problems as well.

Caffeine can give a runner an extra push of energy. Whether it’s a coffee or a caffeinated beverage like a 5-hour Energy, caffeine improves performance. But that performance gain might come at a cost. Most obvious? The jitters. “The biggest issue is that [caffeine] is a stimulant,” Bonci says. “So you’re already stressing the heart a little bit, forcing the heart to work a little bit faster because of the effects of the caffeine.”

In addition to stressing the heart a little more than necessary, Bonci says that caffeine can affect your digestive system: “It’s not dehydrating, but for some individuals who are sensitive to it, it can have a laxative effect,” she says. Which means that the food you’ve eaten can pass too quickly through your system to hydrate and fuel you for a run. And it might have you looking for facilities miles from the locker room.

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Finally, be careful with caffeine as a replacement. After a long, exhausting day at school, it is easy to think that a Monster energy drink is a good way to wake up for your run. A Monster drink will have at least 24 ounces of fluid, but that’s about the only good thing you’ll get out of it. There is also a huge concentration of sugar in that can of carbonated beverage and almost no sodium. The sugar and carbonation can sit in the stomach, making you feel sluggish, and the lack of sodium can backfire for a salty sweater.

Instead of spending the money on a drink that won’t help out, eat a granola bar and have some Gatorade. If you really need some caffeine, try to work a little bit in along with your snack and drink.

Bonci warns that caffeine can be a tricky substance. It can help performance, but it can also hinder it. Experimenting and finding the right amount of caffeine that works for you is the best route to take. Bonci reminds runners: “You only get one shot to do it right on race day. You can’t do over once you start your run.”

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